


Home

by MeltedCupcake



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-10-27
Updated: 2015-10-27
Packaged: 2018-04-28 10:47:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,164
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5087737
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MeltedCupcake/pseuds/MeltedCupcake
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The group saves Beth from Grady Memorial hospital. Beth and Daryl's feelings for each other begin to unravel.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Home at Last

Chapter 1: Home At Last

Daryl walked out of Grady Memorial carrying Beth in his arms. Thank god she had only been knocked out by Dawn’s fist. 

Maggie ran up to him and started crying tears of joy. After so long of thinking that Beth was dead, she had finally found her. She almost felt bad for leaving to go to Washington.

Daryl stared down at the girl in her arms and knew just how much he had missed her. He felt… warm inside. Suddenly he acknowledged the feeling, and had no idea what it was, but he knew it was something. Being his not-open-to-others self, he discarded the feeling. 

He grew a small grin as he passed her off to Glenn, who put Beth in the backseat of a blue sedan they found in the parking lot. Glenn planted himself in the driver’s seat, with Maggie in the back with Beth, and Carol in the passenger’s seat. 

Daryl focused his attention on the girl in the backseat of the sedan. For all this time, he thought she’d been dead… but no. She was titanium.

“Daryl!” Rick called over to him.

Daryl snapped his head around and saw that the rest of the group was piling into a grey van on the other side of the parking lot.

He walked over to the van just before Rick was about to climb into the driver’s seat. “I’ll drive.” Daryl said, taking the keys from him and sitting in the seat.

Once everyone was in the van, Daryl stuck the keys into the ignition and started the car. Before he put it in drive and drove away, he glanced back at the other car. He wanted to be there when Beth woke up, but he just didn’t want to destroy the moment. So, he drove out of the parking lot and onto the road.

 

Daryl had been driving for about half an hour now. He didn’t know where they were going, hell, none of them did, but he just kept on driving in silence.

“What’s so important about the girl, anyways?” Rosita finally asked, breaking the silence. Daryl tried not to yell at her.  
Eugene nodded his head, “Agreed, we just risked our lives driving through Atlanta to get to the girl.”, Daryl’s hands gripped the wheel hard in anger.

“She sure as hell wasn’t as important than gettin’ to Washington…” Abraham said.

“SHUT UP!” Daryl finally yelled out angrily. How could they say that about Beth? They didn’t know squat about her or what she was like. He was so mad right now that he could punch a hole through the roof of the car.

Everyone sat in silence once again.

Rick turned his head to look at Daryl. He could tell that he cared about her more than anyone. He turned his head back towards everyone, “We fight for one of our own. No matter what it takes. We leave no one behind,” everyone looked down, “got that?” he asked. Everyone nodded, “Good.”

Daryl calmed down a bit after that.

 

While Glenn was driving and Carol was doing a crossword puzzle she had found, Maggie told stories about her and Beth before the world went to hell. She knew it was silly, but she thought the stories would wake her up.

Maggie sighed, “I wish she’d wake up already. I know everyone wants to talk to her, especially Daryl…” 

Beth’s eyes slowly opened. “Daryl…?” she whispered. “Oh my god!” Maggie squealed as she hugged her tightly. “Beth oh my god are you feeling okay?”, Beth looked around, a confused look on her face. “Where’s Daryl?” she asked. Maggie tilted her head. “Maggie, where’s Daryl?”. 

“He’s in the other car, but here’s Glenn and Carol.” they looked back at Beth, “Morning sleepyhead.” Carol said, smiling. “I want to see Daryl.” Beth was basically whining now. “Beth, you’ll see him later, okay?” Maggie said, kind of disappointed. Beth turned so she was on her side, and decided to try to go back to sleep so time passed by faster. “I wanna see him…” she muttered. 

 

Rick and Daryl decided to stop the cars and set up camp. It was late at night now, and Beth was starting to get extremely pissed off. 

Glenn stopped the car and Beth immediately sprung out of the door and ran over to the van. She swung the door open, but Daryl wasn’t there. She frowned. “Rick, where the hell did Daryl go?” she asked demandingly, now she was really starting to get mad. “Oh, hey, you’re up.” Rick said as he walked around the car to meet her. “Yep, I’m awake, awesome. Now can you tell me where Daryl is?”, Rick looked shocked. Was there something going on between her and Daryl?

“He went to set up the tents, that way.” he pointed behind her.

“Thanks.” Beth said, going to find Daryl. She couldn’t wait to see him.


	2. Cold

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Beth accidentally says something really awkward, Daryl ignored her for the rest of the day- until she gets cold in the middle of the night.

“Daryl!” Beth ran up to him and hugged him as tight as she could. “You’re crushin’ every bone in my body, Greene.” Beth laughed, “Sorry.”

Beth stopped hugging Daryl for a moment, “I missed you so much oh my god I love you so much!” she said in one breath, hugging him tightly once again, but Daryl pushed her away a bit. “What?” he asked. Did he just hear what he thought he’d heard? “I mean… um... “ Beth had totally messed up now, and she knew it. A blush rose to her face. “I’m gonna go set up the tents.” Daryl said as he turned around and walked away. “I can help…” Beth said, “No. Go talk to Maggie.” he called back, starting to set up the next tent.

“Okay…”

 

Daryl was incredibly shocked by what Beth said earlier. What did she mean? Did she mean as friends? Because it sure didn’t seem that way. Oh well, she had probably just been really excited and messed up. Who knows? 

Daryl stared at the lake in front of him. Suddenly he wasn’t so against the idea of them together. He would give anything just to kiss her once. He loved her.

“Hey pookie.”

Daryl quickly erased the thought of Beth from his head and spun around. It was Carol. “What do ya want?” he asked, his peace interrupted. “Food.” she pointed back towards the camp. “Fine.” he walked pass Carol and back towards the camp. This was going to be one awkward meal.

 

Beth picked the meat off of the squirrel. She was never a big fan of killing small animals, but eating was obviously a priority.

She watched Daryl as he sat down and started eating his own piece of squirrel. She was really hoping things wouldn’t be awkward after what she said. She was wrong. “Daryl.” Beth said, breaking the silence. He didn’t look up from his food or speak. “Daryl.” she said louder. He looked up. “What?” he looked her straight in the eyes. The tension was building up and was about to explode. 

Moments passed. Beth was speechless. She was too nervous to say anything. The last thing she wanted to do was get in a fight with Daryl. “I’m goin huntin.” he said as he grabbed his crossbow. Soon he was far off into the woods, nowhere to be seen.

Everyone was about to turn in for the night when Beth decided to go get Daryl. She knew he was upset, but he couldn’t stay mad forever. 

As she walked, a cold breeze swept through the forest. Her best guess for the cause was that winter was coming. Although nobody really kept track, considering it was basically the end of the world. 

It would’ve been helpful if Daryl had been more specific. Thankfully he had taught her how to track, otherwise she probably would’ve ended up going in a circle. Soon the tracks stopped.

“Daryl!” Beth called out. She was getting really cold and if she didn’t find him soon she was going to have to go back to the camp without him. “Please come out…” she said. She didn’t know if he was listening but it made her feel a bit better.

Beth waited a few more minutes before speaking again. “Daryl I’m really sorry…” tears welled in her eyes. Maybe she was really in love with him. Eventually tears started running down her face. “Please I’m really sorry…” still no response. Right before she was about to let it all out she heard something behind her and spun around. “Beth what are you doing out here?” Daryl asked her. 

“I was looking for you, you jerk!” she yelled. How could he just leave and ask her what she was doing out here?! She tried to calm down before she spoke again so she didn’t start screaming at him. After all, Daryl had gotten her so worried for nothing. “Fine as long as you stop cryin’.” he said, turning around and walking back to camp. Beth started mumbling, “I wasn’t crying…”.

 

Beth and Daryl eventually made their way back to camp. “Night.” he said, about to walk into his tent, but she didn’t take her eyes off him. She really wanted to go into his tent with him and snuggle up close to his chest, it was really cold that night and she just really felt the urge to. “Goodnight…” she said as she walked into the tent next to his. She would’ve slept in another, but it was the only one left.

Beth zipped the tent back up and got under her blanket immediately. She swore she felt herself slowly turning into a human icicle. Her blanket wasn’t very warm but she didn’t care because she had more important things to think about, like Daryl.

 

Daryl woke up an hour later. What had woken him up? He didn’t think anyone was awake right now. 

He suddenly heard soft whimpers from the tent next to his. He sighed. Daryl wanted to go over there and see what was wrong but then he remembered earlier. How could he even talk to Beth now without hurting her?   
Daryl tried to ignore her and go back to sleep, but he couldn’t get Beth out of his head. He really wanted her to be okay.

The whimpers slowly turned into small cries. Now Daryl just felt bad for the poor thing. “Screw it.” he whispered to himself as he grabbed his blanket. He unzipped his tent as quietly as possible. He zipped it back up before walking over to Beth’s tent. To be honest, Daryl was feeling so nervous that his hand was shaking. He didn’t know why, but he just was. He ignored the feeling and slowly unzipped her tent and he heard Beth gasp at the cold air. “Sorry.” Daryl said, walking in.

He sat down next to her, and she looked up at him. There was no doubt she was freezing. Her whole body was shivering and she could barely stop her teeth from chattering. “Why are you in here?” Beth asked, “I thought you were mad…” she trailed off. Daryl sighed once again, “I’m sorry.” he said, “You’re obviously freezin’ your ass off.” he took his blanket and wrapped it around her.  
“Daryl, you don’t have to give me your blanket you’re gonna get cold…” Beth attempted to pull it off and give it back to him, but he gently grabbed hold of her wrists to hold her back. She just stared at him, a small frown spread across her face. “Keep it, you need it more than I do.” Daryl said, letting go of her wrists. He wasn’t lying, either. Beth’s skin was so damn cold that you could freeze the sun with it.

“Goodnight.” Daryl said, starting to crawl out of the tent. “W-wait…” Beth said, stopping him. “Hm?” he grunted, “Will you stay with me…?” she whispered, looking away from his eyes. She knew it was a lot to ask of him but she just really didn’t want to be alone tonight. “Okay.” Daryl finally answered, zipping the tent back up. Beth smiled and hugged him. “I’m sorry.” she said, lying back down. 

Daryl didn’t know what she meant when she asked him to stay with her. Did she want him to hold her? Did she want him to sit in the corner? Shit, he was confused. Eventually he just decided to lay down a couple feet away from her, but it didn’t feel right. He knew she was still cold, those blankets weren’t very warm. He knew she needed more than that. Without thinking, Daryl laid down next to Beth so her head was resting against his chest, their bodies connecting.

Daryl put one arm behind her head and with the other he put on her back and he pulled her closer. Beth let out a sigh of happiness and snuggled up closer to him, as if it was possible. Soon she drifted off to sleep and Daryl was soon to follow her.


End file.
